Apparatus for handling shingles



i 1934- H. E. HOLMAN APPARATUS FOR HANDLING SHINGLES Filed May 29, 1930 4 ShQQCS-Sht 2 II II liILl! I1 p 3 1934- H. E. HOLMAN 1,953,300

APPARATUS FOR HANDLING SHINGLES Filed May 29, 1930 4 heets-Sheet 5 Fig, 8 2 r 7 64 66: 94- ,4- 63 4 J4 A l I l l I I 88 2 i s i i 87 788 i i 87 8s 2 l I L E U 67H 83 l j & 4/ 528 i: W! I m I! I F I L 1' F- INVENTOR A'QJ'QMQ/ i". flodmam ATTORNEY A ril 3,1934. H. E. HOLMAN APPARATUS FOR HANDLING SHINGLES Filed May 29, 1930 4 eetsheet 4 INVENTOR filo/a ifzo/man I ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 3, 1&341

UNIT ST OFFICE APFARATUS FOR HANDLING SHINGLES 9. Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for treating objects or pieces of material to which paint or stain or similar liquid is to be applied and the general object of my invention is 5 to provide feeding and conveyor means for picking up the pieces of material with each piece held separate from the other pieces and carrying said pieces first through a booth or booths in which paint or liquid is sprayed thereon, thence through a dryer where the freshly sprayed pieces are subjected to the action of heat and air for a desired period of time, and thence to a suitable discharge unit where the pieces of material are automatically released and dropped.

In this application the invention is disclosed as embodied in a machine or apparatus for applying paint or stain to shingles and for the purpose of brevity in this description the objects or pieces are termed shingles and the liquid which is 29 sprayed thereon is termed paint. It will be understood however, that the pieces may be varied in shape and size within a very wide range; that any material in liquid form may be sprayed thereon and that the drying treatment may be modified to suit the requirements of the spray material used, it being manifest that this invention is applicable wherever like problems and conditions obtain.

Shingles, as ordinarily used for roofing and siding purposes, are exposed to the most rigid weather conditions and it is important that they be as resistant to deterioration and decay as possible. It has been found that this resistance to deterioration and decay can be very greatly increased by properly coating the shingles with a good quality of weather resistant paint. It is common practice to paint the shingles after they have been laid and nailed. This is usually done to give the shingles a more pleasing appearance but it does not provide ample protection against deterioration because the paint reaches only the exposed part of the shingles and does not cover the overlapping surfaces of the shingles nor the under surfaces which are in contact with the sheathing and it is these overlapping and under surfaces where the greatest amount of decay occurs. Another objection to the usual method of applying paint to shingles with a brush is that paint applied in this way does not enter fully and 50 thoroughly into all of the small crevices and pores of the wood. In accordance with my invention I overcome both of these objections by painting the shingles on both sides and both edges and by applying the paint, preferably in a warmed or heated condition, in a fine spray whereby the paint will be caused to enter into all of the pores and cavities of the wood, and by thoroughly oxodizing and drying the paint into the shingles after it is applied, thereby obtaining a paint coating on the shingles which will last for a long period of time and afford a maximum protection against weathering and decay. In carrying out my invention on a commercial scale it is obviously necessary to provide automatic means for handling very large numbers of shingles individually and at a high rate of speed.

The primary object of my invention is to provide enicient feeding means by which shingles or like objects may be fed, one at a time, to conveyors by which said shingles are picked up and carried through paint spray booths and through dryers.

The above mentioned general objects of my invention, together with others inherent in the same, are attained by the device illustrated in the following drawings, the same being a preferred exemplary form of embodiment of my invention, throughout which drawings like reference numerals indicate like parts:

Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view partly in plan and partly in section, illustrating a typical installation of shingle treating apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar diagrammatic view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section;

Fig. 3 is a detached view partly in section and partly in side elevation of parts of the mechanism for feeding the shingles to the conveyor;

Fig. 4 is a detached cross section substantially on broken line 4-4 of Fig. 3 of parts of the shingle feeding mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation showing the transfer table and other mechanism at the pick up end of the conveyor;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation with parts in section showing half of said transfer table and pick up mechanism;

Fig. 7 is a somewhat diagrammatic detached plan view showing the cams used for opening the pick up clamps;

Fig. 8 is a detached plan view of shingle guiding devices used in connection with my invention;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the transfer table show ing the feed rolls in full lines and showing certain driving mechanism in dotted lines;

Figs. 10 and 11 are two detached views in elevation respectively showing different sides of one of the clamp members for picking up and. carrying the shingles; and

Fig. 12 is a detached view of the cams used for 1 1 opening the clamps at the discharge end of the machine.

The feeding and conveying mechanism, which I shall first describe, embodies two parts, namely, the feeding devices on which the shingles are placed, usually by hand, and carried toa transfer table and the pick up and conveying mechanism by which the shingles are picked up individually and held in spaced apart relation and conveyed through the paint spray booths and the dryer and are finally dropped at the discharge end of the line.

In the drawings, I have shown four lines of conveyors arranged side by side, all operating through the same dryer, it being understood that these lines are duplicates, that any desired number of said lines may be used and that the following description applies to one or more than one conveyor line.

The feeding devices comprise means for bringing in or supplying the shingles. This means may be in the form of roller trackways 18, Fig. 1, or

it may be of a different form capable of supplying shingles to operators who manually place such shingles in a generally upright but slightly inclined position on conveyor belts 19 which are moving in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, and which pass over idler rollers 20 at their outer ends and over driven rollers 21 at their inner ends, said driven rollers being mounted on a driven shaft 22, which is journaled on a transfer table 23. The conveyor belts 19 are preferably inclined at their outer ends at an incline of about fifteen degrees as shown in Fig. 4, so that the butts of the shingles 24 will rest squarely on the belts and said belts may be supported by angle bar track members 25. An inclined guide plate 26 is provided at one side of the shingles for said shingles to rest against and a guide bar 2'7 of L- :shaped cross section is provided at the other side of the shingles near the belt 19 to guide the butts of the shingles on this side. A round belt 28 preferably running in V-shaped sheaves 30 is provided above the top edge of the inclined guide plate 26 for the top end of the shingles to rest against. This round belt 28 moves at the same rate of speed as the conveyor belts 19 and serves as a conveying means for the top ends of shingles, thus keeping the shingles upright.

One of the V-shaped sheaves 31 over which the round belt 28 passes, is secured on the driven shaft 22 and serves as a driving means for the round belt 28.

On the transfer platform 23 each conveyor belt 19 passes under two guide rolls 32 which are mounted a short distance above the transfer platform 23 on shafts 33 which pass upwardly through said transfer platform. These guide rolls are disposed relatively close together for receiving, between them, the butts of the shingles, whereby the shingles will be straightened up into a vertical position, and said guide rolls are driven in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 9 by link belts 34 disposed below the transfer platform 23 and extending around suitable sprocket wheels 35 on the shafts 33 and other sprocket wheels 36 on other shafts 37, the link belts 34 and sprocket wheels 35 being shown by broken lines in Fig. 9. One of the rolls 32 is mounted on a bracket 38 and yieldingly urged toward the other roll by a spring 39 on a screw bolt 40 which is threaded through a fixed support. This roll may be adjusted closer to the other roll by means of the screw 40 and can always be pressed outwardly by excess bulk between the two rolls. Two slightly spaced apart parallel, non-movable guide members 41 are provided above the rolls 32 for receiving the upper ends of the shingles, therebetween, and cooperating in holding said shingles in an upright position, the forward ends of said guide members preferably being relatively divergent, as shown in Fig. 8 to receive the shingles therebetween.

After passing between the rolls 32 the shingles pass between two belts 42 which are mounted on rolls 43 on the shafts 3'7 and on other rolls 44 on vertical shafts 45 near the rear edge of the transfer table. Shoes 46 urged toward each other by compression springs 47 are provided for keeping the belts 42 pressed against the shingles between the rolls 43 and 44. The peripheries of the rolls 32 and the belt 19 move at a lower speed than the belts 42, so that shingles which are positioned close together in edge to edge relation on the feed belts 19 will be separated or spaced apart by the rolls 32 and belts 42 before they are picked up by the conveyors as hereinafter explained.

The belts 42 are kept taut by means of weights 48 on bell crank levers 49 which are connected with the bearing posts 37 of the pulleys 43 by links 49', said bearing posts 37 being longitudinally movable by reason of slots 50 in the transfer platform 23.

The transfer platform 23 is supported on four screw posts 51 which extend downwardly through gearwheel nuts 52 on a base frame 53. A link belt 54 extends entirely around the base frame and passes over all of the gearwheel nuts 52 so that all of said gearwheel nuts are turned simultaneously by movement of said link belt. Ratchet means 55 are provided for moving said link belt and adjusting the platform 23 to any height.

The vertical shafts 45 carrying the secondary feed belts 42 are all driven by a common link belt 56, as shown in Fig. 9, which passes in and out over sprocket wheels 57 on said vertical shafts 45 in such a manner as to move the adjacent portions of the belts 42 always in the same directions. The link belt 56 is driven from a vertical shaft 57, which is driven from the main conveyor mechanism as hereinafter explained. The shaft 22 by which the primary feed belts 19 and round belts 28 are driven is also driven from the vertical drive shaft 57 by means of bevel gears 58, a shaft 59 which extends across the bottom side of the transfer platform and a belt 60 connecting the last named shaft 59 with the conveyor belt drive shaft 22.

The mechanism just described constitutes means for bringing the shingles in over the tran fer platform in a vertical position and in slightly spaced apart relation. 1 shall now describe the main conveyor mechanism for picking up these shingles and conveying them through the paint booths and dryer.

Mounted above the transfer table 23 and preferably hung from an overhead support 61 is a frame 62. A horizontal shaft 63 is journaled in bearings 64 on said frame and a sprocket wheel 65 for each conveyor line is loosely mounted on said horizontal shaft 63. Each sprocket wheel 65 is arranged to be locked or secured to the shaft 63 by an independent clutch member 66 which may be operated by a lever 67. Each sprocket wheel 65 carries a relatively long link belt 68 which extends first through a paint spray booth 69 and then through a dryer '70 and then passes roun another sprocket wheel 71 on a shaft '72,

1,953,300 which is supported in a frame 73 at the discharge end of the machine. The frame 73 is preferably disposed above an apron or conveyor 74, upon which the shingles are dropped and by which they are carried away. The main conveyor link belts 68 are preferably carried in trackways 68 of a form more clearly shown in Fig. 11. The

conveyor lines 68 are driven from the shaft 71 and the shaft 63 is always driven by one of said conveyor lines. Shaft 57 is driven from shaft 63 by bevel gears 94.

Each link belt conveyor 68 carries a plurality of spring clamps which are adapted to pick up the shingles from the transfer table 23 and carry them through the paint spray booths and dryer and to drop said shingles on the discharge apron 74. For handling ordinary shingles, these clamps are usually placed at intervals of about four and one-half inches so that at least one clamp will always engage with the narrowest shingles. Each of these clamps is preferably formed of two duplicate pieces of spring steel 75, Figs. 10 and 11, bent inwardly at their top ends as at 76 and se-- cured by a clip 77 and a bolt 78 to an extension 79 on a link 80 which forms a part of the link open clip which will not obstruct the spray of paint from reaching the shingle and which will not easily become loaded with paint. The clamp members are necessarily notched as-at 82 to afford clearance where they cross each other. When the nut is tightened on the bolt 78 the clip 77 is drawn firmly against the inward y bent top portions 76 of the clamp members and said clamp members are placed under a tension which tends to close them or to cause the fingers 81 to be pressed together. This causes the fingers 81 to grasp and hold any object which is placed therebetween. Obviously, pressure against the outer sides of said two clamp members above the crossed portions, tending to squeeze this part of the two clamp members together will open or spread the finger portions 81 of the same, and it is by applying pressure in this manner that I open the clamp members topick up and drop the shingles. The upwardly bent ends of the clips 77 extend up over the sides of the bracket 79 on the link and prevent the clamp from being twisted out of proper alignment when in use. For the purpose of applying the pressure to the clamp members 75, I provide on each of the sprocket wheels 65 and 71 a plurality of spring arms 83 which extend beyond the peripheries of the sprocket wheels and are arranged to register with the clamps 75 as said clamps pass around the wheels. Contact buttons 84 are provided in the outer ends of these arms and said arms are urged outward by compression springs 85 on bolts 86. At the pick up end of the machine the spring arms 83 are pressed together by two relatively fixed, convergently arranged, curved cam members 87 which are adjustably secured to the frame 62 by bolts 88. These cam members conform to the arc of travel of the contact buttons 84 on the spring arms 83, and extend from a point in front apart at their upper ends whereby the down' Wardly moving spring arms may enter between the upper ends of said cam members 87 and as they move downwardly, will be pressed together thus causing said arms to press against the clamps 75 and spread the finger portions 81 of said clamps thereby permitting said finger portions 81 to pass over the top ends of the shingles 24. The clamps are not released, however, and do not grasp the shingles until after said clamps have completely rounded the curve of the sprocket wheel 65 and have assumed a vertical position, with the link belt 68 to which they are attached moving tangentially away from the gearwheel. It is essential to delay releasing the clamps until they are moving in a straight line to avoid strain on the clamps and breaking of the shingles because the outer ends of said clamps are more widely spread apart while they are moving around the curve and because two and sometimes three clamps will often take hold or" the same shingle. As soon as the clamps are released they will grasp the shingles and carry them away and said clamps will remain parallel until fter they are opened as they approach the sprocket wheel 71 at the discharge end of the machine. The means for opening the clamps at the discharge end of the machine is substantially the same as corresponding means at the pick up end except that the fixed cams 89, Fig.

2, are positioned and arranged so that they engage the spring arms 83 and press them against the clamps 75 and release said clamps just before these clamps reach a point directly below the center of the shaft 72. This releases the shingles before the finger ends of the clamps begin to spread.

The gearwheel shaft 71 at the discharge end of the machine is driven from a motor 90 by speed reduction gear 91 and link belt 92. Each the main conveyor belts and tends to keep these lower portions taut. Any one or more of these belts may be stopped for repair or for any other reason without stopping the others.

In the operation of this apparatus, the shingles are brought in on the conveyors or trackways 18 and are picked up by operators who stand near the ends of the feed belts l9 and placed butt down on the belts 19, see Fig. 4, with the upper portions of the shingles resting against the round belts 28. In this inclined position the shingles are carried to the pick up platform or table 23 where they are straightened into a vertical position as they pass between the rollers 32. The peripheral speed of the rollers 32 and belts 42 is greater than the speed of the conveyor belts 19 and 28,

thus causing the shingles to be spaced apart a short distance as they pass between said rollers 32 and belts 42. This reduces the liability of two adjacent shingles being grasped by the same clip 75 with consequent danger of splitting, and further allows the paint spray free access to the edge of the shingles. As the shingles travel between the belts 42 toward the rear edge or" the table 23, the upper ends of said shingles pass between the spread apart fingers 81 of the clamp members 75 which are moving in the same direction and at the same speed as the shingles and which have been opened or spread apart by the spring arms 83 and cams 87 as said clamp members passed around the sprocket wheels 65. As the spring arms 83 and clamp members 75 pass out from between the cams 8'7, the clamp members are released and grasp the shingles and carry said shingles away through the paint spray booths and through the dryer and finally drop said shingles in a thoroughly painted and dried. condition onto the apron '74 at the discharge end of the machine.

Obviously, changes may be made in the form, dimensions, and arrangement of the parts of my invention, without departing from the principle thereof, the above setting forth only a preferred form of embodiment.

I claim:

1. In apparatus of the class described, an endless link belt conveyor; sprocket wheels supporting said conveyor at the pick up and discharge ends; spring actuated clamp members carried on said conveyor belt for receiving and holding flat objects; spaced apart convergent cam members positioned at the pick up end of said conveyor for receiving therebetween said clamp members as they pass around one of said sprocket wheels; feeder means for supplying fiat objects in spaced apart upright position whereby said flat objects may be picked up by said opened clamp members; and spaced apart convergent cam members positioned at the discharge end of said conveyor for receiving therebetween said clamp members to release said objects.

2. In apparatus of the class described, an endless link belt conveyor; sprocket wheels supporting said conveyor at the pick up and discharge ends; spring actuated clamp members carried on said conveyor belt for receiving and holding flat objects; radial spring arms on each of said sprocket wheels extending beyond the peripheries of said wheels for engaging with said clamp members as said clamp members pass around said sprocket wheels; arcuate cams supported adjacent said sprocket wheels for engaging with said spring arms to open said clamp members; and means at the pick up end of said conveyor for supplying fiat objects to said clamp members as they are opened by said cams.

3. In apparatus of the class described, an endless link belt conveyor; two sprocket wheels supporting said conveyor for movement; resilient clamp members carried by said link belt conveyor; oppositely disposed radial spring arms on each side of each of said sprocket wheels and arranged in pairs and extending beyond the peripheries of said sprocket wheels for engagement with said resilient clamp members as they pass around said sprocket wheels; cam means for engaging with said radial spring arms to press said spring arms together and open said clamp members; a trans- :fer table under one end of said link belt conveyor;

carrier means for feeding flat objects over said transfer table in spaced apart upright position in the path of said open clamp members; and means for driving said carrier means and said link belt conveyor.

4. In apparatus of the class described, an endless link belt conveyor; two sprocket wheels supporting said conveyor for movement; resilient clamp members carried by said link belt conveyor; oppositely disposed radial spring arms on each side of each of said sprocket wheels and arranged in pairs and extending beyond the peripheries of said sprocket wheels for engagement with said resilient clamp members as they pass around said sprocket wheels; cam means for engaging with said radial spring arms to press said spring arms together and open said clamp members; a transfer table under one end of said link belt conveyor; moving belts for conveying fiat objects to said transfer table; carrier means on said transfer table movable at a faster speed than said belts for receiving said flat objects and spacing said flat objects apart and carrying said flat objects in upright position into the path of said open clamp members; and means for driving said link belt conveyors and said moving belts and said carrier means.

5. In apparatus of the class described, an endless moving conveyor; article pick up means on said conveyor; a transfer table disposed below one end of said conveyor; a primary feed belt movable over said transfer table and extending outwardly from said table for bringing articles to said transfer table; a guide belt spaced above said primary feed belt and movable synchronously therewith for articles on said primary feed belt to rest against; a pair of rolls on said transfer table for receiving the articles from said primary feed belt; two secondary feed belts on said transfer table for receiving therebetween said articles after they pass between said rolls and moving said articles in an upright position into the path of said article pick up means; and means for driving said belts and said rolls.

6. In apparatus of the class described, a spring clamp having finger gripping members; a link member having an extension on which said clamp is mounted, said link member forming an element of an endless conveyor; a clip bridging the base of the clamp and contacting directly and bearing with pressure upon said extension whereby said clamp is held rigidly as a unit with the extension and the closing spring tension on the fingers is augmented.

7. In apparatus of the class described, a feed mechanism for flat articles embodying a pair of guide-spacer rolls; two feed belts for receiving therebetween said articles after they pass between said pair of rolls, said belts moving at a faster speed than the peripheral speed of said pair of rolls.

8. In apparatus of the class described, an endless conveyor; spring clamps on said conveyor for'receiving and holding flat objects; means at one end of said conveyor for opening said clamps to receive said objects; feed means embodying rollers and belts moving at relatively different speeds, whereby said objects are presented to said clamps in relatively separated spaced apart relation, said feed means holding said objects by their lower end portions in a vertical position for reception by said spring clamps.

9. In a shingle feeding and conveying means, a pair of supporting sprocket wheels, means for driving one of the sprocket wheels, an endless conveyor belt operating about the sprocket wheels, means adjacent one of the sprocket wheels and synchronized with the conveyor belt and operable to automatically effect the delivery of shingles to the belt, gripping devices mounted at regular intervals on the belt, each comprising complemen- 

